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Coquitlam, BC
Canada
801 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 7:45 PM
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Silverdaisy Mountain
Saturday, Oct 11th
Hikers:
· Anton
· BillyGoat
· Dean1150
· Paulo
· Social Climber
· TracyL
After a stop at the Abbotsford mickie-dees for some pre-hike food (you gotta keep the joints greased), we headed to the trailhead to meet Anton and BillyGoat. Problem was, we were 30 minutes late. Sorry guys. After convincing them we were still worth hiking with, we parked one car at Cayuse Flats and the other at Sumallo Grove. This way, we could traverse and return via a different trail.
We began hiking in drizzle and low cloud. Something we’re now used to it seems. The trail starts completely flat as it follow the Skagit River, it then swings steeply uphill. The switchbacks got the heat going and some of us had to strip off layers. A short time later, it levelled out and the rain turned to snow! Layers went back on. We assembled on the pass with the final section about an hour long. Problem was we began down a dead end mining route that we soon realized was not the way. We explored a bit and found the way up the crest of the ridge. The snow was fresh and about 8-12 inches deep. Visibility was getting worse and finding the flagging tape was a challenge at times. When in doubt, go up.
Soon we were on the summit, though because we were in clouds, we had Anton verify with his GPS. Yep, this is the summit.
Coming down was fun. We boot-skied on the snow and after graciously saving the group some time with a short cut, they repaid me by setting up a snowball firing squad. What an attitude!! Thankfully, their aim was terrible!
Anyhoo, we took the mining road back to Cayuse Flats and found that it wasn’t any shorter than the route we took up. Oh well. The skies had opened up a bit and the weather was better than on the ascent. Hopefully, Anton and BillyGoat will post some pics of the flagging tape fields. There was tape on every 2nd tree! Probably mining claims.
A detailed map of our route here:http://members.shaw.ca/chamberland/temp%20for%20Brew/Silverdaisy%20Topo%20cropped%20path.jpg
Certainly a place I’ll return to in better weather so I can enjoy the fine views the mountain presents.
Some Stats:
return distance: 24 kms
max elevation: 2071m
elevation gain: 1435m
hiking time, including breaks and snowball fight: 6:45
coldest temperature measured: 1 degree
snowballs thrown: 30+
Overall, a pleasant hike with ‘interesting’ company(the Usual Suspects). Very nice. Thanks guys.
I’ll leave it to the CT-ers who hiked it today to submit their entries for funniest line of the day:
Edited by - dean1150 on 10/11/2003 10:19:13 PM |
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 double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 8:00 PM
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sounds like a fun hike Dean and team !! A big adventure with (literally) thrills and chills.
You made me smile when you mentioned that today's weather was familiar to you. It certainly was not, to me! Though I've endured the odd cloud here and there during hikes on the Musical Bumps and near Panorama Ridge, I haven't seen anything near today's weather in over six months!
Too bad there were no views to be had from the summit... Isn't it too bad after all that wandering and climbing? I was looking at the topo map in the other discussion thread, and noticed that the summit approach is quite gentle, compared to some of the steepness on the trail before ridgeline - was that the case?
Dean I tried the URL for the detailed route, and I got a 404 - could you pls review it?
I look forward to seeing pictures of Silverdaisy. I was looking at the map two days ago, and contemplating joining in, but then I thought of the long drive to and from Manning (after barely a week away) and demurred.
Perhaps next summer...
cheers - C Wall
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6944 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 8:06 PM
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Yes, a truly marvelous hike indeed! Here's some pictoral highlights:
 Here's an overview of the route from the trailhead
 Our group minus myself
 Typical uphill scene on the lower trail
 Anton posing with our first view
 looking down the valley below
 We found ourselves in snow at around 1400 metres elevation
 Rounding a corner...Dean fearlessly leading the way
 Two clothing apparel extremes...Dean and Social Climber
 Reaching a pass at 1800 Metres...looking south
 nearing the summit...
 Summit achieved! Everyone was so excited, they all started doing the Hokey Pokey
 Dean leading us all in a prayer of thanksgiving
 Here's me..the unsung cameraman (just to prove to you all I was indeed there!)
 An attempt to pelt Dean with snowballs
 Taking another route back down proved tricky...as the trail was faint and poorly flagged...
 One of many intense discussions as to where we should proceed; due to the lack of flagging tape or any other such indicators that there may be some sort of trail nearby. Here's Dean and Paul having a little disagreement. Anton finally had to come in with his GPS and re-establish our bearings so we could continue.
Thanks again to Dean for organizing and leading the trek...good hiking with you and everone else on the trip!
"If you don't get at it, when you get to it, you won't get to it to get at it again!"
Edited by - BillyGoat on 10/11/2003 8:25:49 PM |
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Coquitlam, BC
Canada
801 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2003 : 8:18 PM
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Thanks C Wall. You're right about the steepness. After the first bit, which is nothing you haven't done before in terms of steepness, it's a tame trail. It was the pleasant trail we expected, especially the route back. Most people could hike this trail I feel.
About the weather, for the most part, today's motley crew was the same as the Castle Towers team last month. On Day 2 there, we were in wind, rain, clouds and biting cold. Today was much better. I've had many hikes that end up in clouds with no view. Just makes we want to return in better weather.
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| Paulo
Intermediate Member
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
768 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2003 : 09:49 AM
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Yes indeed, it was a great trip with better than expected weather. It was a day of relaxed fun and a nice way to start early winter hiking. After the 7 switchbacks in the first hour the trail was relatively easy... even higher up when we were hiking in the snow.
Jim's idea for a snowball fight was great fun and Dean was a good sport about us 'targeting' and 'stalking' him with snowballs (Dean got us back soon after when he caught us coming around a blind corner and threw several stockpiled snowballs at us in a few seconds  ).
As Jim mentioned during the route we took out, the gentle grade and wide path (an old road) will be great for winter accents/descents. I expect he and others will be back with winter gear once the snow gets deeper  .
Thank you to everyone that joined Dean's trip. A great group that made a nice hike, in less than great weather, a fun experience.
One regret, I wish we had taken some flagging tape with us to mark the trail we took out  .
Paul
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Burnaby, BC
Canada
200 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 2:28 PM
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With a bit of delay here is my share:
First snow, everybody is exited!
View of suspended clouds on our way up
   
This one is from the "Dean taking the bearing" collection.
About half an hour to the summit
  
And we are finally on the summit
Nice hand signals! 
Quick lunch on the way down.
  
Working hard tryind to find our way out. Everyone agreed the navigation on the way down was "anything but intuitive". If not the compass, GPS and Dean's detailed topo we would still be there, lost in the woods!
Thanks guys once again for the wonderful time we had. And special, extra thanks to Dean for organizing the trip.
Looking forward to hike with you again in shortly coming snow season.
P.S. Will add the elevation graph and some numbers later this evening.
Edited by - anton on 10/13/2003 4:48:03 PM |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 2:41 PM
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this hike is on my list for next year now. Great photos Anton and BillyGoat!
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
120 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 3:54 PM
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Thanks guys for another great hike. This is another place I'd like to return to see the views. It was nice to get a taste of the coming winter season. I'll look forward to our next adventure!
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6944 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 4:13 PM
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Hey Anton, very nice pics indeed! I think between the two of us, we covered the trip pictorally quite well.
"If you don't get at it, when you get to it, you won't get to it to get at it again!" |
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Fast Movin, litigatin, adventure seekin, clothin deprived trail buster
Port Moody, B.C.
Canada
589 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 4:35 PM
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Dean, Anton, Paul, Tracy and Tim - another great trip. Dean, good pick of a late season mountain, and Anton and Tim, thanks for the great photos. A taste of snow to get us into the groove for the snowshoeing and backcountry skiing this season!
Don't let life pass you by. |
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Burnaby, BC
Canada
200 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2003 : 11:43 PM
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As promised, the data from GPS:
The small spike before 9 o'clock must be the trip to the upper parking and back. We left one car there so we could take an alternative route back.
I left the GPS on while driving and even if it didn't get the sattelite it still recorded the elevation change based on the altimeter. This compromises the accuracy of statistics calculated based on the trackpoint log (or at least the track should be cropped manually before feeding into the software). Will have to play with it a bit more.
But here is some numbers from the GPS' trip computer, which I reset right before entering the trail:
Distance covered 24.2km
Moving average speed - 5.0 km/h
Overall average speed - 3.5 km/h
Stopped time 2:03
Moving time 4:50
Total time 6.53
Max elevation 2071m
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Makati
Philippines
955 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2003 : 12:32 AM
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Nice work Folks. Looks good. thats the first snow I've seen this year. I'm reluctantly settling into the fact that the dry part of the season is almost over. I'm still planning on getting in a few good weeks of snowfree hiking. Wow... those pics really hit home... I've been so busy thinking about the new spring Kayak (in the works) that I havent spent nearly enough time thinking about THIS winter's snowshoes! Looks like y'all had a great time.
Frank... Get me the Bone Saw. |
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Silverdaisy Mountain Oct 11th, 2003
